Elsewhere In The World: Photo Of 2-Year-Old Washed Up On Turkish Beach Is Absolutely Heartbreaking

2-Year-Old Syrian Boy Washed Ashore Onto Turkish Beach

Two-year-old Aylan Kurdi was born into a country eaten up by war. His parents, Abdullah and Rehen, only wanted a better life for Aylan and his 4-year-old brother, Galip, than they had in Kobani, Syria.

They wanted what anyone does — what hundreds of thousands of people fleeing violence, who have flooded Europe, want — a safe home.

Trying to make that simple but treacherous dream a reality, Aylan, his brother and mother drowned. An image of the boy’s body on a Turkish beach shook social media and outraged leaders in Canada, where the family had hoped to wind up, and many others watching the European migrant crisis unfold.

On Thursday, four Syrian citizens were taken into custody, suspected of human trafficking in connection with their deaths and those of nine others whose bodies washed ashore, according to Turkey’s semiofficial Anadolu news agency.

Abdullah, the only family member to survive the trip, says he has nothing left to live for. “I don’t want anything else from this world,” he told CNN on Thursday. “Everything I was dreaming of is gone. I want to bury my children and sit beside them until I die.”

We can’t even imagine the pain this father is feeling right now. Thoughts and prayers go out to them and all the families of fleeing refugees making dangerous treks to escape oppression.